Release Date: 25/11/2006
Played On: Win
Available On: Droid / DS / iOS / Lin / Mac / PSP / Win
Time Played: 1h 10m
Progress: Completed
Developer: Fuguriya
Publisher: MangaGamer / St Michael Girls' School / Yurin Yurin
I remember when I was first getting into visual novels in general. At first I didn't really understand the appeal, as most of the ones recommended to me consisted of little more than sexually suggestive anime. In fact, I didn't realise that visual novels as a genre could ever exist without some kind of horny element, which I later found out to be completely false. This, however, is not one those visual novels. This is one of those anime-looking, unnecessarily horny entries into the visual novel library.
Why then, do I feel the need to write about it? I suppose I'm not sure either, but I was amused enough by this story that I thought it might work well as a generic foil for all visual novels of its ilk. After all, while this wasn't the worst visual novel I've experienced, it's far from the best and contains all the typical factors that go into a slightly horny anime VN.
Not that I have a problem with sexual content at all. I'm actually very supportive of sexual content in all media, as it never ceases to amaze me how easily we accept violence, but shy away from sex as a culture. To put it bluntly, I would rather we all had sex instead of killed each other, so I don't understand why abhorrent violence and aggression is so easily accepted, while sexuality is always a touchy subject that's so often avoided.
As much as I enjoy a visual novel game every now and then, I actually think most of them are very poorly written. I suspect that part of the reason behind this lack of writing prowess is due to how accessible the genre actually is. It takes very little game design knowledge to actually make a visual novel, and there are plenty of free software packages out there that will do all the work for you. Thus, I can forgive the fact that many VNs feature bad writing, because many of them are made by someone who just wanted to make something.
The flip side of course, is that when I find a visual novel that has good writing, I'll be the first to champion it and recommend it to everyone who may be put-off by the genre. A Kiss For The Petals is sadly not one of those games, but it comes a little closer than most. In fact, I suspect that with a little more effort and time, this could have been significantly better overall. Unfortunately though, this one ends up being nothing more than a short little slice of life with no real impact one way or the other.
If you're wondering what I consider to be an excellent visual novel, I would recommend Everlasting Summer as my top pick. It has all the traditional visual novel tropes, but takes a major turn somewhere along the way and ends up being entirely unsettling and mysterious in a way that will really hit you for six. Alternatively, if you like a bit of sexy times in your visual novels, then Katawo Shoujo is a classic that actually deserves its reputations as a quality VN. It's a little weird in places, but there's a load of player choice and some interesting ways that the story unfolds.
Back to A Kiss For The Petals though, which can't hold a candle to either of those excellent titles I mentioned. Instead we have a fairly generic story about a couple of school girls who find friendship (and maybe more) when they meet as freshmen at some elite college, or something like that.
The art is your typical anime-style art, which is actually quite impressive. I mean, despite how generic this art style often looks, there's a lot of talent involved in the execution of such clean and consistent art. Although, there's a big distinction between art that I respect and applaud for its achievements, and art that excites and interests me on another level. There aren't many visual novels (if any) that really go for something special when it comes to its art, so we often have to make do with something simple and generic like the anime style used in this title.
Gameplay-wise, this is a kinetic visual novel, which means that there's nothing to "do" in the game other than click through the text and read the story. This is a sticky point for a lot of gamers, as they struggle to understand the value of visual novels that fail to utilise complex branching paths and choices, which are only possible thanks to the virtues of being a video game. Many gamers consider kinetic VNs to be pointless and no different to reading a book, but I tend to differ.
Mostly because the real difference between a VN and any other form of storytelling, is that it combines just about every sense in its delivery. The art is important and influences your interpretation of the text, while music and sound effects are often employed to flesh out tone and pacing. Sometimes the characters are voiced as well, which is the case in A Kiss For The Petals. Sure I don't understand the Japanese voices that are speaking every line as it appears on the screen, but I got a good sense of each character's tone as I could hear the voice actor's delivery.
What's more, it may not seem like much to simply click through lines of text, but the act of physically pressing that button provides a tactile sense to the experience that is all but absent in other forms of media. I can only guess that a lot of gamers aren't very good at suspending disbelief and letting a story take them on a journey, which could explain their failure to connect with this kind of story-telling. Either way, A Kiss For The Petals does its best to provide a broad sensory environment within which to seat its narrative. After all, it's a simple story and doesn't take long to tell, so any additional features are generally appreciated.
The gist is that there are these two girls; Risa and Miya, who are schoolmates and close friends. At the start of the game we're introduced to them as they walk to school together and reminisce about the first time they met. The rest of the game is a sentimental recollection of their first moments when they got to know each other and eventually fall in love (not a spoiler).
Risa is an annoying busy-body straight-A student who volunteers for every school committee and is determined to get a perfect attendance record. She's basically the uber-nerd, and all the other nerdlinger students look up to her as being perfect in the nerd world and someone to aspire to. It's why Risa signed up for this special college and why she's a real pain in the ass about doing everything correctly and sucking up the teacher's butt.
Then there's Miya, who is the mysterious transfer student that joined the college without knowing everyone from previous years. She quiet and aloof, but some kind of super genius because she never does any work, but still gets perfect scores on her tests. Much to Risa's complete disbelief, Miya cuts class all the time and has a very laissez faire attitude to school life.
Of course the differences are shattered after the two girls get to know each other better and figure out that they each have their own shit to deal with on the inside. There are no prizes for figuring out the story here, as it's been told a million times before, and it's been told a million times better as well. Thankfully though, the thing that stands out in this game, is that the story is treated with a bit of softness and care. While there are still some pathetic anime-inspired jokes and gags here and there, most of the story is told with a bit of reverence. By the end of the short little read, I actually found myself liking the two main characters, who were kind of annoying and bland at the start.
So that sounds kind of complimentary, which is the intention after all, but I still don't think this is anything to get too hyped up over. This is the kind of visual novel that I would only recommend to other fans of the genre who have already experienced a bunch of different VNs. To that end, this is a nice little addition to the genre that's easy to get through and suffices as a neat little bite-sized morsel between longer endeavours. At the very least, it's miles better than Nekopara Vol. 0!
I still love the ways that video games are able to deliver a story differently to other forms of media. I suppose that's why I don't mind a kinetic VN every once in a while, as it contributes to the broad diversity of story-telling that we have available to us. Sometimes it feels like we're spoiled for choice, so I have no time for anyone complaining about whether or not they consider a genre to be worthy of the title "game", but that's a discussion for another time.
Probably when I finally get around to playing Dear Esther.